Stronger: The Prequel
by Skywhisper
Summary: A.J is in what seems like a pit of dispair ever since she lost Daniel. Can she pull herself together in time to see that she's not the only one in pain?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! I decided that I would make a Prequel to my oneshot 'Stronger'. I hope that everyone enjoys it!**

**Chapter 1**

Watch. That was all A.J did now that Daniel dumped her. She watched as he went on with his life as if she had never been a part of it and blissfully unaware to how much he had meant to her…or he knew and just didn't care.

A.J sighed sadly at the sight of him stalking past with that stormy look that seemed to be permanently stuck there after his lose to Sheamus at Wrestlemania. "He's right….it was my fault…" Tears welled up in her eyes and a quiet sniffle escaped her, _no don't cry! Hold it together A.J!_

"There there A.J…don't cry. Daniel doesn't deserve your tears!" Alicia Fox walked over and wrapped a comforting arm around the smaller Diva's shoulders, sympathy coursed through her. She had had her share of bad breakups but A.J was taking being hurt to…new levels.

A.J leaned her head on her friends shoulder, missing not only Daniel….but Kaitlyn. "Yes he does…Daniels worth everything to me! I'm the one that doesn't deserve to have him. It was my fault that he lost! I just... wish that I could have another chance but I don't even deserve THAT." Once that thought entered her mind more tears and dark eye shadow dribbled down her cheeks, leaving wet gray trails. "And now Kaitlyn hates me…"

"She doesn't hate you. Kait just…" Alicia furrowed her eyebrows in thought but couldn't remember if the diva had even said WHAT it was that she felt for A.J now. "I'm sure she's just a feeling a little hurt. Listen…a couple of us were gonna hangout somewhere tonight. You should come…it'll do you a world of good to get out."

"I don't know…" A.J's eyes travelled all throughout the room, anywhere to keep from looking at the puppy eyes that Alicia was no doubt aiming at her. Just thinking about 'the look' broke her down a bit. Down the hall she noticed a rather dismal figure sitting on a pile of crates, staring at his phone. "Looks like I'm not the only one not in a party mood."

Alicia followed her gaze and frowned. "Why are there so many sad people here? Come on," before the Geek Goddess could even utter a single word of objection Alicia was dragging her down the hall towards the upset superstar. "Hey Zack…how you doing?"

The Long Island Iced Z looked up in surprise at the two Diva's, quickly hiding his phone where a picture of Eve had been up on the screen. "Okay…"

"Well A.J, a couple others and I were thinking of hitting a club or something later tonight. Wanna come? You look like you could use a bit of fun." Alicia chirped out, not at all deterred by Zack's dull tone or the look of annoyance on her friends face. "So how 'bout it?"

Zack seemed to perk up a bit then deflated again just as quickly when a thought entered his mind. "Will…Eve…?" he trailed off, what he was asking was clear without him even finishing the question.

"Heck no!" Alicia exclaimed with a look of irritation on her face at the mention of her _ex-_friend. "None of us like the way she was treating you! Playing with someone's emotions like that is just horrible and shouldn't be put up with!" she made sure to annunciate each word while looking directly at the dejected diva.

A.J glared at the floor, trying to push away the anger that was beginning to bubble up inside of her stomach. "He didn't play with my emotions…he loved me…then dumped me with good reason…"

"No way bro! What good reason could that jerk possibly have for dumping a hot babe like you?" Zack couldn't believe that the girl in front of him even considered it a possibility that it was her fault for Daniel breaking up with her. The guy was obviously a tool but after the way A.J had slapped her best friend for insulting her he decided to keep that thought to himself. "Count me in! I could hit a couple clubs…drink some Budlime…AND FIST PUMP WITH SOME HOT BABES! WOO WOO WOO!"

A.J looked away to hit the light blush on her face at the compliment but inside she knew that Zack was only trying to spare her feelings. If she had only been a better girlfriend then she and Daniel would be cuddling in bed right now.

"You know what I'm not giving you a choice anymore. Your coming whether you like it or not!" Alicia began to drag the petite diva through the hall with a determined look on her face.

"NO! ALICIA I DON'T WANNA GO OUT!"

"Come on A.J." Zack smiled a bit and laid a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Us wounded people gotta stick together. Come with us?"

With a pleading look being directed at her from both Alicia AND Zack, A.J gave a groan of surrender. "Fiiiinne! Can we stop at the hotel and get changed first?"

Alicia gave her an incredulous look. "Did you think we were gonna party in THESE clothes? Not on your life!"

**Gonna stop it there and I'll update soon. Please rate and review! THANKS! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A.J stood outside of the club they had found alternating between glaring daggers at the building itself and then turning and glaring at Alicia.

Alicia rolled her eyes but kept the smile firmly in place as she resorted to once again dragging the petite diva into the club, excitement making her somewhat bouncy-stepped. "Alrightie! What do we do first?"

"Dance?" Zack suggested while looking at the dance floor with somewhat hopeful eyes. It's been a while since he got to dance and was looking forward to doing it again. _Hopefully A.J lets herself have some fun…the girl could use some._

Alicia gave a nod of approval and headed towards the mass of dancing people, bobbing her head in time with the beat of the music playing ridiculously loud. She turned towards A.J and began to sway her hips in time with the fast-paced song. "COME ON GIRL!"

A.J shook her head and purposely turned away from her friend, _why the heck did I even say yes to this in the first place? WHAT THE! _She was snapped out of her thoughts when Zack gently gripped her arm and began heading towards the group of people with her in tow. "I don't wanna dance you guys! I just wanna go back to the hotel and eat my bodyweight in chocolate chip ice cream."

"Well too bad cause I'm not letting go till you have some fun," Zack gave an almost smug look at his idea and tightened his grip on her arm just enough that she couldn't worm away but wasn't hurting her at all. "Now come on! Fist pump with me!" He began to do his idea of dancing while holding her one arm and had the 'Zack Ryder Smirk' on his face.

A.J stared at him in shock and annoyance when suddenly out of nowhere she imagined that she had on one of his new foam fists and was dancing in the club with it on. It was too much for her, giggles started to spill out and a smile spread across her face. "You are SUCH a child Zack!" She began to laugh even harder when the Long Island Native looked at her with an adorable look of confusion on his face.

Zack shrugged his confusion off and smiled brightly at the fact that he had managed to get her to cheer up a bit, he didn't quite know how he did but the Geek Goddess definitely seemed much happier. "Yeah! There's that pretty smile!"

A.J rolled her eyes at Zack before turning to Alicia and began to slowly dance next to the Diva, laughing more than she had in a while…even more then she had back when she had still been with Daniel. But that all came crashing down just a moment later with the arrival of one person.

"Hey there A.J."

A.J's blood seemed to run cold as she slowly turned around to meet the sight of Daniel standing there, smug look in place and hanging off of his arm was some beautiful model-type girl that was all smiles and breasts.

"This is my NEW girlfriend Kerry, a girl actually UP to my calibre." Daniel leaned over and placed a soft kiss on the girls mouth then turned back to her. "Well have fun with your," he paused and looked at the other two with a look of disgust clear on his face "Still questionable choice in friends." Then turned and walked away.

A.J didn't even realize that the tears were once again rolling down her face, it was a daily occurrence ever since the breakup but she did notice the burning in the back of her throat and the feeling of another part of her heart being shattered to pieces. Before either Zack or Alicia could stop her she took off out of the club into the cold night with only one thought on her mind. _I need Kaitlyn…_

**There's the new chapter everyone! Hope you enjoyed! Sorry if it's a little short, I typed it up during class and now I REALLY need to start working on my project **


	3. Chapter 3

**I would like to thank WhiteAsukalover for giving me my fist review. THANK YOU!**

**Chapter 3**

A.J hurried down the cold streets towards the chosen hotel for the WWE that evening, face stained with tears and eye shadow, teeth chattering and shaking violently, her mid-thigh shorts and superman t-shirt doing nothing to keep her warm.

When the hotel finally came into view she send a silent thanks to whoever must have been keeping an eye on her from above and had made sure that the streets weren't filled with creepy fans and that she didn't freeze to death.

"MISS!" A bellhop ran towards her with a look of concern on his face. "Are…you alright? A bit chilly to be dressed in so little don't you think?"

A.J gave the man a shaky smile to try and reassure him that she was alright. "Yea, I just left my ride here without really thinking." She hurried past keeping her head ducked down to hide the mess that was her face and headed straight to the front desk. "Umm excuse me. I was wondering what room my friend was in…Kaitlyn. She's a WWE Diva."

The woman behind the desk smiled in a rather icy way. "We are not allowed to disclose the Superstars or Diva's of the WWE to fans."

"Oh no! I'm not a fan I'm a Diva too. A.J Lee."

"Do you have any proof of who you are?"

A.J fumbled around for her wallet and pulled out her Drivers Licence and presented it to the woman with a somewhat exasperated look on her face even though the woman's reaction was completely justified but she just wanted to find her friend, beg for forgiveness and then cry her heart out until there was nothing left in her.

The woman pressed a few keys on her computer then turned to her with a tired look on in her eyes. "Room 4402."

"Thanks," A.J raced over to the elevator and pressed the button for floor four and waited anxiously for the doors to open. The bell binging caused her to jump in surprise and with barely held in tears walked slowly down the hall till she reached the right room. She lifted a hand then hesitated. _What if she just slams the door in my face? I don't think I could handle it if Kaitlyn hated me…_

Suddenly the door swung open and said Diva stood in front of her with a look of surprise on her face which slowly turned into annoyance. "What're you doing her A.J?"

Her throat began to burn, vision became blurry and her lip trembled as all her pent up emotions just overwhelmed her and spilled out. Falling down onto her knee's A.J hugged her best friend around the legs and just sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm s-s-oorry Kait! I-I'm so s-sorry!" she managed to choke out between tears. "Please don't hate me…please!"

Kaitlyn dropped down to her knees and wrapped her arms around her distraught friend, tears began to prickle in her own eyes. "I never hated you A.J… I could never hate you. Come on," She helped the smaller woman to her feet and led the way back into her room, shutting the door firmly behind them and sat on the bed, just trying to comfort her friend.

"Help me Kaitlyn…I need your help."

"With what? Please don't say to get that jerk back!" Kaitlyn couldn't keep the annoyance out of her voice at the thought that her friend may want back the man that had reduced her to this rather…pitiful state.

"No…" A.J had calmed down to quiet sniffles and was holding onto Kaitlyn tightly as if she expected her to just disappear at any given moment. "I don't wanna feel like this anymore…I wanna be happy again." All she felt inside was that she was sinking. Falling fast into a deep hole that she couldn't seem to pull herself out of no matter how hard she tried.

"What do you want?" Kaitlyn knew what it was that her friend was asking for but first she wanted to hear her say it. Not just that but that was the first step that she needed to take in order to get better…to heal. "What do you want A.J?"

A.J bit her lip softly, more tears welled up at the mere thought of saying it but knew that she had to. She couldn't get out of this pit by herself. She needed Kaitlyn to be there for her and the other Diva wasn't about to help until she heard what she wanted to hear. "I-I…" She took a deep breath and finally spit it out. "I don't wanna have feelings for Daniel!"

A small smile spread across Kaitlyns face and she hugged A.J tighter. "Okay."

**Sorry I'm gonna end it there for now, class is almost done and I don't wanna leave the classroom in the middle of this chapter. Will update soon! ^_^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

AJ sat cross-legged on her hotel bed, drifting off slightly; thinking about what it could possibly be that Kaitlyn would do to try and help her get over Daniel. _Is there really anything that can help? _

A knock sounded on the door and a second later Kaitlyn strolled in before she was given permission, a big smile on her face and trailing behind her was Alicia and Zack. "Alrightie! First off these two said that they wanna help you out so they came too and not to mention Zack has his own heartache to get over!"

"Do not…" Zack mumbled sullenly, a small pout on his face.

"So what's first?" Alicia asked with a curious tilt of her head. _Just what does she have in mind to help AJ?_

AJ couldn't help glancing up at her long time friend inquisitively, wondering what the plan was.  
"Better not be anything ridiculous," she muttered.

"Since this will no doubt be the most fun we'll do it first!" Kaitlyn thrust forward the bag she was carrying towards the Geek Goddess with a grin. "We eat ice cream and bad-talk Daniel and that hoe!" Turning slightly to the Long Island Native she asked, "Could you get some spoons for us?"

Zack nodded then turned to the mini fridge in the corner of the room that had an assortment of utensils on top in a jar and grabbed four. He handed one to each Diva before sitting down in one of the armchairs. "Let the bashing start!"

AJ stared at her friend with a horrified look on her face, "I CAN'T DO THAT!"

"Why not?" Kaitlyn stopped handing out the small tubs of ice cream to the others to turn and stare with a hard look on her face that slowly melted into a sly grin. "If you don't say something mean about Daniel then you don't get your ice cream…and I got your faaavvvvooorrrriiittteee!" she dragged out the last word as she pulled out the small tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream from the bag and waved it around teasingly in front of the petite Diva.

AJ's eyes were glued to the tub, watching as it was waved in all its deliciously taunting glory practically right in front of her nose. _NO be strong! _Although the promise of ice cream was tempting it wasn't enough for her to start bad-talking Daniel. _I wouldn't even be able to think of anything to say anyways! He was the perfect boyfriend…_ "I won't do it!"

Kaitlyn shrugged like she could care less and began to pull the lid off slowly. "Alright, since it's obvious that I'm not going to change your mind…I wouldn't want this deliciously minty treat to go to waste!" she scooped a HUGE spoonful out and put it in her mouth. "Mmmmm! So yummy!" she mumbled around the mouthful. "Alicia you want some?"

AJ stared at Kaitlyn with a look of disbelief on her face._ She's eating MY ice cream! That was for me!_

Alicia looked up from her tub of low-fat strawberry ice cream with a cunning smile of her own. "Sure! Mints waaaaay too delicious to resist!" And she scooped out an equally big spoonful and ate it. "What bout you Zack?"

AJ turned the glare that had been aimed at Alicia to Zack with a warning look on her face. "Don't…you…dare!"

Zack took no heed of the warning and with a childishly gleeful look on his face took a break from his Rocky Road ice cream to eat some of the mint chocolate chip. "YUMMY!"

"OKAY!" AJ exclaimed, unable to take the torture of watching the others eat her favorite ice cream anymore and looked down at her hands anxiously. "Daniel…is a REALLY loud snorer!"

Kaitlyn burst out laughing and handed the tub to AJ who immediately began digging in. "Are you serious?"

AJ nodded quickly, "REALLY! And it's ridiculously loud! I mean it sounded like he swallowed a motorcycles engine or something!"

All three wrestlers laughed at the thought of Daniel keeping the entire hotel awake with his snoring. "How did you manage to sleep?"

"Honestly either I didn't or I wore ear plugs."

"okay okay okay! Zack tyour turn." Everyone directed their attention to the Long Island Iced Z eagerly.

"Let's see…OH! That girl has NEVER played a single video game in her life! I tried to get her to play with me once and she managed to somehow break the controller. And when I gave her some money to buy me a new one while I went to the gym she came back with a PSP."

AJ started snickering which almost resulted in her choking on her mouthful of ice cream and coughing harshly. "NO WAY! How do you even DO that? They look nothing alike!" Tears were dribbling down her face from coughing so hard.

"You think that's bad? Wait till you hear this," Alicia leaned forward waiting for silence before continuing.

**Gonna end it there for now! Will update soon so please rate and review! Thanks! And I hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I got this from a reliable source that the incident that happened two months ago where someone filled Bryans locker with meat…he did it himself!"

"NO WAY! Daniel would never do something like that!" AJ exclaimed heatedly, and glowered at Alicia.

"I'm telling the truth! He was trying to get Punk in trouble but since it's not against the law for someone else to have meat even though Daniels a vegan so it didn't quite have the effect he was hoping for."

"And you're supposed to be dissing him! Not denying things and defending him! If you don't start doing it right then I'll take your ice cream away again! And you know I will," Kaitlyn pointed her spoon at her friend, annoyed that she wasn't trying to make things easy at all.

"What's with the vegan thing anyways?" Zack questioned quizzically. "Eating meat isn't gonna poison him!"

"It is a little ridiculous…I mean if he wants to be vegan then go right on ahead," AJ ate a mouthful before continuing. "But seriously! He won't even eat anything _shaped _like an animal! I couldn't even eat animal crackers around him!"

"OKAY THAT'S TAKING IT TOO FAR!" Alicia laughed loudly along with the others. "He _does _know that just because its animal shaped that it's not actually made from meat right?"

"Apparently not!"

"Wow…that's just…WOW." Zack shook his head in disbelief while chuckling quietly still.

"Did you know that Eve's totally fake too…if you know that I mean," Kaitlyn wiggled her eyebrows and made a not-so-subtle gesture to her chest with a teasing grin on her face.

"I knew it!" Alicia exclaimed loudly. "HA! Kelly owes me five bucks! I totally called it but she was soooo sure that they were real! Apparently she's some sort of boob expert."

"PFFT! You're crazy Leesha!" Zack and AJ both exclaimed at the same time through their fits of laughter then looked at each other with identical expressions of surprise on their faces before laughing all over again.

Kaitlyn watched her friend smile and laugh as if Daniel had never been a part of her life and part of her was proud but another knew that they still had a very long way to go before she was anywhere near being over him. _We can do it though…she's already improving._

Zack took a big bite of his ice cream with a smile on his face as she watched AJ get some revenge on her best friend for stealing her ice cream by taking a huge spoonful from the tub of French Vanilla that Kaitlyn was eating. On the outside he was smiling but inside he still felt sad and like a fool for letting Eve trick him the way she had and causing him to be the reason that Laurinitis was in charge of both shows now. _I bet AJ's feeling bad still too even though she's got that pretty smile of hers on her face._

Alicia laughed loudly with a hand held beneath her mouth to keep from getting any of the pink dessert she was eating on the hotels couch. Things seemed to be going well so far. _Maybe soon they'll be with better people sooner than anyone thought. _A sneaky smile spread across her face at the not so subtle glances that the Long Island Iced Z kept sending at AJ when the Diva wasn't looking.

AJ smiled at the others, feeling slightly bad about making fun of her ex-boyfriend but at the same time talking about the things about him that annoyed her made her feel the slightest bit better…and helped her to miss him just a little bit less.

**Sorry it's so short, swamped with studying for my exams but I didn't want to leave you guys without an update. Hope you enjoyed it!**


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